Why does it scream a cult? What's weird about Scientology I don't really know too much about it.
Scientology wasn't even a religion when it started. It was a psychology method called "Dianetics" that a science fiction author (L. Ron Hubbard) made up in order to charge vulnerable people enormous amounts of money to fix problems they didn't know they had. It focused around leading, invasive interviews and a quack device called an "electropsychometer" that has no real medical meaning.
The government started cracking down on Hubbard's foundation because it was making clearly false medical claims and Hubbard was practicing medicine without a license. The Dianetics foundation filed for bankruptcy. So L. Ron Hubbard decided to reinvent the whole thing and declared that his psychology was now a religion. He later made up a complete ridiculous origin story to support this religious claim.
Everything Scientology does is on a fee-for-service basis. These fees run thousands and thousands of dollars, and members are told they have to keep attending more and more of these sessions and pay more and more money in order to fix themselves. Early on in the process, they get you to spill your deepest secrets in taped interviews, where you are shamed by the interviewers if you don't reveal anything. Numerous Scientologists who have escaped from the cult have said that these secrets are later used to threaten and blackmail you into not leaving.
The crazy origin parts of Scientology are never given up front, but are only revealed to members when they have been committed for years and are deep into the process.
Scientology maintains a huge league of lawyers, and has repeatedly tried to silence its critics (especially former Scientologists) with expensive lawsuits, character assassination, and psychological abuse. They use the private interviews and the huge service fees to drive these anti-critic programs.
For example, when HBO decided to make a movie about Scientology, they hired 160 lawyers specifically to defend themselves against the Scientology lawsuits that they knew were coming. This is what anyone who criticizes Scientology is in danger of facing.
Scientology has only had 2 leaders. L. Ron Hubbard died in 1986 and
David Miscavige became the new leader. People who have escaped Scientology have accused Miscavige of "forced separation of family members, coercive fundraising practices, harassment of journalists and church critics, and humiliation of church staff members, including physical assaults upon them by Miscavige." He's literally beat the shyt out of other board members with his fists in the middle of board meetings.
To compare it to other religions is ridiculous. Not just because it has a "more ridiculous origin story" or whatever. But because the leadership is more blatant about financially abusing its members and more deliberate about maintaining complete control over its entire membership than all but the worst cults.
A movie about some of the internal truth about Scientology, called "Going Clear", recently started a firestorm.
Little tidbit from
wikipedia:
The controversies involving the church and its critics, some of them ongoing, include:
- Scientology's disconnection policy, in which members are encouraged to cut off all contact with friends or family members who are "antagonistic" to Scientology.,[105][280]
- The death of a Scientologist Lisa McPherson while in the care of the church. (Robert Minton sponsored the multi-million dollar lawsuit against Scientology for the death of McPherson. In May 2004, McPherson's estate and the Church of Scientology reached a confidential settlement.)[281]
- Criminal activities committed on behalf of the church or directed by church officials (Operation Snow White, Operation Freakout).
- Conflicting statements about L. Ron Hubbard's life, in particular accounts of Hubbard discussing his intent to start a religion for profit and of his service in the military.[34]
- Scientology's harassment and litigious actions against its critics encouraged by its Fair Game policy.[34]
- Attempts to legally force search engines such as Google and Yahoo! to omit any webpages critical of Scientology from their search engines (and in Google's case, AdSense), or at least the first few search pages.[282]
- Allegations by a former high-ranking Scientologist that Scientology leader David Miscavige beats and demoralizes staff, and that physical violence by superiors towards staff working for them is a common occurrence in the church.[283][284]Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis denied these claims and provided witnesses to rebut them.[283]
- In October 2009, a French court found the Church of Scientology guilty of organized fraud. Four officers of the organization were fined and given suspended prison sentences of up to 2 years. Prosecutors had hoped to achieve a ban of Scientology in France, but due to a temporary change in French law, which "made it impossible to dissolve a legal entity on the grounds of fraud", no ban was pronounced.[285] The sentence was confirmed by appeal court in February 2012.[286]
- In November 2009, Australian Senator Nick Xenophon used a speech in Federal Parliament to allege that the Church of Scientology is a criminal organization. Based on letters from former followers of the religion, he said that there were "allegations of forced imprisonment, coerced abortions, and embezzlement of church funds, of physical violence and intimidation, blackmail and the widespread and deliberate abuse of information obtained by the organization"[287]
Due to these allegations, a considerable amount of investigation has been aimed at the church, by groups ranging from the media to governmental agencies.
However, why don't people take it seriously? Like, I know Scientology is basically Scientific religion. It was founded in the 50's by an author. Still, why do people dislike i and think people are weird/crazy for joining it?
